Spider bite update

I went to the ER this morning, waited for a few hours, and saw a super nice doctor who cut open the bite and drained it out. He said it's a good thing that i came in, and that the wound should heal up just fine. He said there is no way to know what kind of spider bite it was without having actually caught the spider. I was in a lot of pain this afternoon after the anesthetic wore off, but I'm feeling ok now. I bet I'll feel a lot better in the morning! Thanks for your prayers and concern guys :)

Crazy spider bite... I'm a bit worried....

Guys, I think I have a brown recluse bite. I put my pajamas on the other day, and then shortly realized that something had bit me. Well I go to take a look, and there were 4 bug bites on my rear (sorry to talk about my rear on my blog). I didn't think too much of it at the time, but they were kind of itchy like a mosquito bite. Anyway, it's about two days later(I think), and three of the bites are just teeny little spots, but one (I'm assuming the initial one b/c it would have got the most venom?) has gotten bigger. After doing some research I suspect a brown recluse bite...? It's bigger than a quarter, swolen, sore, and feels hardish to the touch with a scab in the center (ok sorry too much detail!). It's 3AM and I can't sleep because it hurts and I guess I'm worried about it. I think I'm mostly upset because we're very busy this week and I really don't want to go to the hospital tomorrow, but I probably should. And I think I will. Grrr.

I absolutely HATE HATE HATE spiders (and hospitals). A couple times a year I will fly out of bed from a deep sleep because I had a dream a spider was in the bed. I have to turn on all the lights and shake out all the blankets before I'll go back to sleep. Poor Daniel. I'm not so bad with spiders I can see-- I don't mind squishing them too much anymore (even squashed a very tiny one with my bare finger the other day!). It's those spiders that you can't see-- the ones in your shoe, your pajamas, your bedsheets--- that seriously freak me out.

update tomorrow.... please pray for me!

Stake-out and renters

We've had a rough week with all this vandalism. But it looks like we're making progress with it-- we figured out they're coming some time between 11am-3pm. Daniel rigged up a walkie-talkie and I stayed in our travel trailer today (which is in the church parking lot.... which is fairly close to our chickens) listening for a ruckus. Shortly after noon I had a hunch that I should go out to check on things, and I sat there for not even 15 minutes when I saw someone off in the far corner of the field behind a tree. I got out of the car and yelled at them (it was pretty far, I don't know if they heard me or not) then called Daniel at work and he rushed over to try and find the guys. By the time he got there they were gone, BUT he did find a spot in the woods that looked like a teenage-hangout spot. So we know what time they come, and we know where they hang out. And no chickens were killed today and nothing was broken or damaged. Hopefully we can get this stopped soon. I'm really hoping that if Daniel gets his hands on them he'll beat the crap out of them and then give them a good talking to. Just like in that movie "second hand lion".

In other news, we've found renters for our house!!!! I am soooo excited/relieved/thankful. God is so good to us! We will be renting to some friends of ours, and we will be using our own garage for storage instead of having to get a storage unit. That will make moving so, sooo much easier!! It really will be a great situation, and I'm so glad to have it worked out. I was concerned that we might not be able to find anyone.

Alright I'm exausted, so I'm going to go now. :)

Why do people do these things?

Someone has started vandalizing our farm & garden project. We're really discouraged and frustrated. They broke all the poles holding up the electric netting around our egg layers (they've done this twice now) and smashed all our portable broiler shelters (many salvageable pieces, though-- only one or two are completely ruined). They also killed a rooster. Poor rooster. Also had an electric fence charger and a car battery stolen.

I know vandalism happens, but I've never really had it happen to me before. It's especially frustrating because we're trying to do something good for the local community. But how can we do it if someone destroys everything?? It really bothers me, too, to see all the hard work my husband has done destroyed. And now instead of being able to work on new projects he's had to spend his time repairing everything. Sigh. We know that God told us to start this project, so we'll keep on keepin' on. We need to figure out a solution. We're thinking....

On a more positive note, we can literally see how we've been able to improve soil fertility in our field-- the grass is coming in nice and green where we ran the chickens. Everywhere else it's brown.

Goodnight!

We're progressing!

Today we moved our 5th wheel into our church parking lot. We found out that there is an RV hookup there, so we asked permission to park our new home there for the next 6 months until we move up to Kentucky.... and our pastor and elders said yes! We go to the most awesomest church ever, people. Really. I love our church.

This whole situation is exciting for many reasons.... one, we will be close by to devote lots of time and energy to our church farm & garden project. It is going splendidly so far, and we want to make sure that when we move everything is running smoothly so that someone else can take over and keep providing organic local healthy food for the church, and eventually the local community. Two, we will be able to save a lot of money by renting out our house to pay the mortgage instead of paying it out of pocket every month (we decided not to sell right now cause the market's not so good and there are like 6 houses for sale in our neighborhood already). Three, we will be learning how to live in a 5th wheel while Daniel still has a steady income. We will also have the encouragement of many loving friends who think we're cool for doing not-so-normal things (like living in your church's parking lot in a 25-year-old travel trailer). So we're really excited about the whole situation. I think it works out well for our church too, because we will be there almost all the time to help out with whatever comes up.

Anyway, the plan is that we will get our new home (it needs a cool name... I'm open to suggestions) squeaky-clean this week and move in this weekend. Then we will spend the next couple weeks packing up our house, having a yard sale, and getting it rent-ready. Hopefully by September we will be fully transitioned out of our house-house and into our house-on-wheels. We're going to be so busy. But a good busy. I'm really excited about our new lifestyle. I think we'll spend a lot more time outside.

In other news, we had a fun birthday party for Ezekiel on Saturday. He enjoyed eating his (super healthy) cupcake. It was too cute. He was very serious about it. Actually he seems to be very serious about many things in a cute, kid-like way. He's growing so big. I can tell by the look on his face that there are things he wants to be able to say, but he can't do it yet. I'm looking forward to when he can talk, but I'm also loving the stage he's in right now. He's such a wonderful blessing, I love him so much!

Goodnight!

Happy Birthday!

Has it really been a year?

I can't believe that tomorrow is Ezekiel's first birthday. It's gone so fast! Ok, the first 4 months were super slow. In some ways I'm sad... I don't feel like I have a little baby anymore. He said "dada" today for the first time! He said it about 5 or 6 times, it was so cute.

These pictures make me sad, for a few reasons. First, obviously, he was born too early and spent way too long in the hospital. Second, we didn't really get any good pictures of his first day of life. I think we were just so flustered, and I remember not feeling like I could ask to have his isolette opened up so I could get clear pictures. It didn't feel like we were allowed to act like he was ours because we weren't allowed to touch him or hold him. Nearly all the pictures are blurry and hard to see, or bad angles. We also didn't get any good "comparison" pictures, like of Ezekiel next to someone's hand, or with Daniel's wedding ring around his arm, etc. You know, normal preemie stuff. But I don't mean to complain. These pictures are from his first few hours. Daniel took them-- by the time I got to go see Zeke he was in his isolette.